Starter For liquid yeast

How do I make a starter for liquid yeast?

(1/2 quart) of water and stir in 1/2 cup of DME. This will produce a starter of about 1.040 OG. Boil this for 10 minutes, cool to 70 or so for temp and pitch yeast that is at the same temp. stir plates are good to keep the starter going but an manual shake up will do the job too,this needs to be done often for the next 24 hrs. you need to use a mason jar with the lid on just snug as pressure will build up if the lid is on to tight. PS before you pitch the yeast into the starter shake the hell out of the wert to get as much 02 in there as possible ,this is important. now after 24 hrs or so cool the starter in the fridge. you will see a thick layer of yeast on the bottom after a 2-6 hrs- at fridge temps . this is your new yeast.
pour off the liquid from the top and add the new yeast to your wert making sure the temps are close.

During that mini boil, you can add 1/2 tspn of yeast nutrient. To me that’s a shot in the arm for a good starter.

www.mrmalty.com

A few things I’ll add.

  • Weigh stuff! Don’t use cups, tablespoons, whatever. Measure by weight. It’s more accurate. 100g of DME per 1L of water.

  • You can, but don’t need to use a mason jar. For a normal starter, you’ll need a bigger container. Most use an erlenmeyer flask. 2L would be the smallest I’d buy and use. 1 gallon jugs are also good and more appropriate for larger starters. Anything smaller than a 2L flask and you aren’t really making a decent sized starter. If you do use a different container like a mason jar, just put a piece of sanitized aluminum foil over top. The gas will have room to escape.

  • As Denny said, use Mr.Malty to determine the size of the starter you’ll need. Anything smaller than 1L and you probably don’t need a starter.

  • Cold crash for longer than 2-6hrs. Depending on yeast strain and how well it flocculates, you should cold crash for 12-24hrs if not longer.

  • You do NOT have to warm the yeast back up to pitching temps. Going from cold to warm is ok for yeast. Going from warm to cold is not.

Hope this helps.

Some good information besides just the calculator in the Mrmalty site.

http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

Brewers Friend also has a good calculator and other helpful information in the site.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc ... alculator/

Lots of good info, thanks everyone.

[quote]- Cold crash for longer than 2-6hrs. Depending on yeast strain and how well it flocculates, you should cold crash for 12-24hrs if not longer.

  • You do NOT have to warm the yeast back up to pitching temps. Going from cold to warm is ok for yeast. Going from warm to cold is not.
    [/quote]

I’m assuming you cold crash so that whatever temp. of wort you’re pitching into, you’ll always be pitching into a warmer environment, which is better for the yeast?

[quote=“Helvetica”][quote]- Cold crash for longer than 2-6hrs. Depending on yeast strain and how well it flocculates, you should cold crash for 12-24hrs if not longer.

  • You do NOT have to warm the yeast back up to pitching temps. Going from cold to warm is ok for yeast. Going from warm to cold is not.
    [/quote]

I’m assuming you cold crash so that whatever temp. of wort you’re pitching into, you’ll always be pitching into a warmer environment, which is better for the yeast?[/quote]

As was said, going from cold to warm I fine. For at least 350 batches now, I’ve taken the yeast out of the fridge (about 45F) and immediately pitched it into wort that’s 60-65F. If it didn’t work, I would have stopped doing it several hundred batches ago.

Don’t doubt you Denny. I’m still a newbie and learning- it makes more sense to do it your way and more convenient as well. It’s easier for me to make a starter well ahead of time (mid-week) and keep it in the fridge a day or two and pitch it on brew day (Saturdays for me). :cheers:

Don’t doubt you Denny. I’m still a newbie and learning- it makes more sense to do it your way and more convenient as well. It’s easier for me to make a starter well ahead of time (mid-week) and keep it in the fridge a day or two and pitch it on brew day (Saturdays for me). :cheers: [/quote]

Remember to decant the spent wort before pitching!

Will do, thanks! :cheers:

Decanting would be pouring off most of the wort from the top, and pitching the actual yeast layer? What happens if some solids from the very bottom fall in?

sent from Taptalk

[quote=“tron140”]Decanting would be pouring off most of the wort from the top, and pitching the actual yeast layer? What happens if some solids from the very bottom fall in?

sent from Taptalk[/quote]

yes that is what decanting is, and it seperates pretty well - I don’t think you will have as much (if any) mix together like maybe you are fearing you will.

Plus that is why you want to use a lighter DME - then if some does go into the 5 gallons (obviously the “wet” yeast will have some) then it does not add much if anything to the flavors of the actual beer.

[quote=“tron140”]Decanting would be pouring off most of the wort from the top, and pitching the actual yeast layer? What happens if some solids from the very bottom fall in?

sent from Taptalk[/quote]

Are you sure you understand? You don’t want the liquid on top…you want the solids from the bottom.

NB has a great video on this website re making a yeast starter. Click on Learn on the top menu and then go to resources. Explains it all.